Jill of All Trades
Like many ScareHouse employees, Amanda Barnoski is a bit of a Jill of All Trades.
“The first year I worked here, I was acting,” says Amanda, “but now I mostly do makeup.”
When Barnoski joined ScareHouse in 2017, the Cleveland native brought with her years of experience from other haunts.
“I’ve been in the haunt industry since 2011. It’s always been a super fun thing to do. I paired up with a bunch of different haunt owners in different places. When I first started in the haunt industry, I was doing more set design work. So that’s what really got me into the makeup end and acting and other things.”
And she even does hair, too! In fact, her job as a hair stylist brought her to the Pittsburgh area, and it was one of her clients that led her down the spooky path to ScareHouse.
“One of my clients, who actually works with me here now, she had told me she was going to try out for ScareHouse. It was weird because that same day, I was looking at haunts in the area and ScareHouse had popped up. So we went together.”
With all of the different roles she’s had in the haunt industry—from acting to set design to makeup—does she prefer one over the others?
“I definitely love makeup, because I get to do it and leave but still enjoy everything. But I love acting. Getting that good scare is just the best.”
Like so many actors and ScareHouse employees, Amanda believes that the haunt industry is for a very special kind of person, and when you join it, you find your people.
“I always tell people that when you come to work in a haunt, we’re all just a bunch of misfits. We tend to not fit in with big groups of people in society on average. But when we come here, we’re all the same. That’s one thing that has stayed consistent in all the haunts I’ve worked in.”